Firmus Piett was a Humanmale who was the last admiral of the Imperial Navy's Death Squadron, Darth Vader's personal fleet of Star Destroyers. Coming from humble beginnings on the backwater Outer Rim world of Axxila, Piett began his naval career with the Axxila antipirate fleet. Though his posting was not notable, Piett's creativity and dedication made his home sector the safest in the Outer Rim. His ascension through the ranks, however, was not so much a tribute to his dedication, but his ability to shift blame onto others when mistakes were made. With an extraordinary number of arrests and suppressions to his name, as well as what appeared to be a perfectly clean record, Piett earned the attention of high-ranking officers on Imperial Center.

Though he was criticized for his swift ascent to the top of the command chain, Piett set himself about his task with enthusiasm, though he feared that he would meet the same fate as Ozzel. He made several potentially fatal blunders soon after his promotion but was able to shift blame as he had done in the past. Following the failed capture of Luke Skywalker at Bespin, the Executor was taken back to Imperial Center, leaving Piett to command the Accuser once more. In 4 ABY, though, Piett was once again on the bridge of the Star Dreadnought, commanding the Imperial fleet in the Battle of Endor. Piett perished in the battle when an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor piloted by Arvel Crynyd rammed into the Executor's bridge.

Instead of feeling a sense of pride for his promotion, however, Lieutenant Piett remained only cautiously optimistic as many of his superiors were choked to death through the Force by Darth Vader. During this time, Lieutenant Piett noticed how Vader grew increasingly obsessed with hunting down the newly-formed Rebel Alliance. He was also aware of Vader's secret project on Kamino and how it diverted vast resources from the Imperial fleet, including at least one Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and several of the new terror units. In an intercepted personal correspondence belonging to Piett, he mentioned how Vader executed several officers because of their failure to prevent the escape of his "most prized test subject." Piett feared that his rise through the ranks would inevitably lead to a command under the Sith Lord. Due to the high mortality rate of the officers who served directly under Vader, Piett requested a transfer to the Coruscant Defense Fleet before more promotions brought him within closer proximity to Vader and his utter lack of tolerance for failure.[8]

On approach to the Rebel base at Yavin 4, Piett was on board the Executor when it fell under attack from Rebel pilot Vrad Dodonna. Seeking to curry favor with the Dark Lord,[13] Piett personally congratulated Vader when Dodonna's attack failed. Dodonna would later perish when he attempted to ram the Executor.[14] During the Evacuation of Yavin, in which the forces of the Galactic Empire drove the Alliance to Restore the Republic out of their hidden fortress, Admiral Griff perished in an accidental collision. With the position of Death Squadron's admiral filled by Captain Kendal Ozzel, Piett was given command of the Executor.[1] At some point, Piett and then-Admiral Ozzel observed a fleet gathering that included large squadrons of TIE Advanced starfighters, several Bellator-class Star Battlecruisers, Allegiance-class heavy Star Destroyers, Imperial-class Star Destroyers, and Procursator-class Star Destroyers.[2]

Captain Piett overlooking a space battle.

An early assignment saw the crews of the Executor and the Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger sweeping the sensor-baffling Black Widow Nebula for the Star Destroyer Eradicator and a courier corvette under the command of Captain Sodarra. During the search, the freighter Millennium Falcon entered the area, and the Executor ordered it to heave to. Piett and a customs team of spacetroopers were ferried to the ship in a spacetrooper shuttle. As the troopers swept through the ship on their inspection, Piett questioned the freighter's captain, Han Solo, on whether he had encountered the corvette or the Eradicator. Solo had not, and mentioned that his flight had originated on Ord Mantell. When the customs sweep revealed that the ship was all but empty, Piett's curiosity was piqued, wondering how the pilot of an empty freighter would have money to fritter away on Ord Mantell. Solo began to suggest bribing Piett, which infuriated the Imperial to a degree that he had the freighter pilot and his first mate, the WookieeChewbacca, thrown in the Executor's brig. The pair would later escape custody.[15]

For several years, Piett and his crew searched for the new Alliance base following the rout at Yavin. The bulk of the Rebels were able to escape capture or death during that battle, and had established a new base of operations somewhere in the galaxy.[1] As captain, Piett personally oversaw the ship's staffing, handpicking officers such as future-CommanderGherant.[16] Piett began to learn the workings of Death Squadron's chain of command and had heard about Vader's execution of unsatisfactory officers. The captain swore to himself that he would not fall prey to the Dark Lord's wrath by making a simple blunder. It was generally perceived that Admiral Ozzel had as much power over the fleet as Vader did, but Piett knew better and took to studying his superior officer, so as to capitalize on the admiral's blunders. In doing so, he earned Ozzel's ire, but found a way he could ascend in rank.[6]

In 1.5 ABY, Piett was temporarily stationed at the Emperor's Retreat on Naboo, before being transferred to Dathomir. There, an outbreak of Imperial bioweapons Project I71A had been reported. A Quarantine Zone had been set up, and further reports were stemming from the Research Facility, telling of the outbreak. Piett tasked an Imperial operative with retrieving a sample of the virus from the Quarantine Zone for further study. He also charged the operative with rescuing any survivors amongst the scientists and exploring the facility itself. Once the operative had completed his goals, and saved the embattled scientists, Vader himself contacted the operative, congratulating them. Piett then rewarded them with a Flare-S swoop.[17]

Piett gives Vader a status report on the performance of the Executor.

Vader, in the years following the Battle of Yavin, learned that the man who had destroyed the first Death Star was in fact Luke Skywalker, his son. In the hopes of converting Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, Vader became obsessed with tracking down the young Rebel, devoting much of Death Squadron's time and resources to the hunt.[18] In 2 ABY, Vader received a transmission from GovernorBin Essada of Gyndine, who claimed that Captain-SupervisorGrammel, who oversaw Imperial operations on Circarpous V, had captured Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. Grammel had also come across intelligence of a powerful stone, the Kaiburr crystal, that could enhance one's usage of the Force. The idea of possessing the crystal and the Rebels was attractive to Vader, and so he ordered Piett to take the Executor to Circarpous V. The ship was operating at peak efficiency, but Vader warned the captain that he would tolerate no delays. Upon reaching Circarpous V, the Dark Lord was unable to acquire either the Kaiburr crystal or the two fugitives.[19]

Vader would not be deterred however, prompting him to set up a trap on Verdanth. A Viper probe droid, connected to the Executor via a cybernetic link, transmitted a distress signal and waited for Rebels to come across it, hoping to attempt a "rescue." Sure enough, the probe did detect a Rebel presence, but it was only a pair of droids. Piett, disappointed at the news, informed Vader, but the Dark Lord was confident that more entities would be lured to the scene. Eventually, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo reached the planet, prompting Vader to activate the cybernetic link. Using the Force, Vader attempted to extract the location of the Rebel base from Skywalker, but failed.[20]

In 3 ABY, Death Squadron resumed its search for the Rebel base. Finally, a Viper probe droid reported that it had found a possible candidate in the Hoth system. Knowing that Admiral Ozzel would dismiss the finding, Piett waited until Lord Vader was on the bridge of the Executor before alerting his superior. Ozzel predictably passed the discovery off as a hidden smuggler base or something similar, but Vader was convinced that it was the Alliance base and the location of Skywalker. Acting on the captain's advice, Vader ordered the Executor to the Hoth system.[1] The admiral had been made to look a fool, souring him in Vader's eyes just as Piett had planned. At the same time, the Axxilan had made himself appear sharp and calculating, gaining him a small degree of favor.[6]

Piett receives his unorthodox promotion to admiral as his predecessor is killed by Darth Vader.

Ozzel brought the fleet out of hyperspace close to the Hoth system in hopes of surprising the Rebels before they could organize their defenses. However, it alerted the Alliance to Death Squadron's presence. The commanders of Echo Base raised energy shield, preventing the planned bombardment of the base by the Imperial fleet. Vader was outraged that Ozzel's tactical blunder forced him to take the base via a potentially costly ground operation. He promptly contacted Ozzel and Piett and choked Ozzel to death with the Force. As Piett watched, Vader ordered him to prepare a ground assault and use the fleet to blockade Hoth. To Piett's surprise, Vader also gave him a field promotion to admiral before Ozzel's body had even hit the floor.[5] Piett's first act as admiral was to have his predecessor's corpse disposed of.[13]

With Captain Venka now in command of the Executor,[7] junior officers formed betting pools on Piett's life expectancy, since Vader's admirals tended not to last very long in the role.[1] Nevertheless, Piett dedicated himself to his task. GeneralMaximilian Veers and Blizzard Force were able to overcome the Rebel defenders during the Battle of Hoth, but many enemy craft made it through the blockade.[5] After landing on the planet, Piett briefly toured the remains of Echo Base before informing Vader that seventeen Rebel ships had been destroyed while trying to flee. Vader cared little, since his primary target was the Millennium Falcon. With that ship and its crew of Han Solo, Leia Organa, C-3PO, and Chewbacca as bait, Vader was confident he could lure Luke Skywalker into a trap. As such, Vader's only concern was for the Millennium Falcon, and he cared little for the outcome of the battle itself.[21][22]

The Executor set off after the Millennium Falcon, pursuing it away from Hoth, but the Alliance craft sought refuge in the system'sasteroid field. Piett was concerned that the field's debris would cause significant damage to Death Squadron's cruisers, but Vader was undeterred. Making his report, Piett became one of the few people to ever see the Dark Lord's head unmasked. TIE/sa bombers were dispatched to try and force Captain Solo out, while the rest of the fleet swept the system, but their efforts were to no avail. The new admiral was given little time to relax, however, as he received a transmission from EmperorPalpatine himself. The Emperor demanded to speak to Vader, and as Piett informed Vader, he was ordered to move the Executor out of the asteroid field, in the hopes of sending a clear transmission.[5]

To Piett's distaste, Vader summoned a group of bounty hunters to the Executor in order to make use of their services in locating the Millennium Falcon.[5] The admiral was particularly disturbed by the presence of the ruthless and infamous Boba Fett.[21] Piett was confident that Death Squadron could and would find the craft, and his faith seemed to be well invested when a report from the Imperial II Star Destroyer Avenger claimed that they were in pursuit of the Millennium Falcon. Pleased, he alerted Lord Vader, only to learn shortly afterwards that the ship had disappeared after what appeared to be a suicidal attack on the Avenger. Terminating the Avenger's captain, Lorth Needa, Vader ordered Piett to disperse the fleet along several trajectories in the search for the Millennium Falcon. The Dark Lord was not pleased, and made no hesitation in conveying his mood to the fearful Piett, who was sharply reminded of his predecessor's fate.[5]

Piett, struck with fear as he watches the Millennium Falcon make the jump to lightspeed.

Following the dispersal of Death Squadron, Vader received a transmission from Fett, who had located Solo and the Millennium Falcon on Bespin's Cloud City. Vader subsequently ordered Piett to take the Executor there with all due haste.[23] Upon reaching the floating city, Piett sent a team down to sabotage the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive unit, preventing the Rebels' escape if they were to find their way out of Vader's trap. Meanwhile, Vader's men captured Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, and C-3PO. Vader eventually returned from the city empty-handed, despite the fact that Skywalker had taken the bait. Eventually, the Millennium Falcon made its way away from Cloud City, with the Executor trailing close behind. At Vader's behest, he ordered Lieutenant Cecius to ready the boarding party, before ordering the activation of the Star Destroyer's tractor beam. To Piett's surprise and fear, the Millennium Falcon successfully made the jump to lightspeed. The admiral's error would have been fatal at any other time, but Vader was too conflicted since Skywalker, his son, had refused to join him.[5] Following the Bespin debacle, Piett filed a report on Vader's actions, which was eventually read by the Emperor himself.[24]

This section of the article assumes a specific path in a roleplaying adventure. Alternate paths are noted in the "Behind the scenes" section. Note: The events in this section may or may not have been confirmed as canon within the Star Wars Legends continuity.

Around this time, Piett sent a group of Imperial agents to the planet Almas in the Cularin system, to investigate reports of Alliance activity there.[25]

Sometime after the development of the TIE/D Defender, a Rebel base was discovered on Mygeeto. Vader took the Executor there, leaving Piett in charge of starfighter command. The admiral first sent out a squadron of fighters to determine the Rebel presence in the area, before learning that the Alliance was sending their own scout ships to investigate the Executor's position. Piett personally briefed one pilot in particular, updating him on the status of the campaign. He sent the pilot and his wingmates after the Rebel scout ships, which were located in Zuborte Ma, the Mygeeto asteroid field.[26]

Piett briefs the "Imperial Ace."

Though the scout ships were destroyed, the Rebels sent a fleet to attack the Executor, hoping to preemptively stave off a possible attack on the Mygeeto base. Piett scrambled fighters to defend, with his craft decimating the force of GR-75 medium transports, CR90 corvettes, and EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates. The individual pilot he had been briefing distinguished himself, leading the admiral to recommend the ace to Vader. The Dark Lord eventually led the attack on the base, routing the Alliance and claiming the planet in the name of the Empire.[26]

When Vader returned to Imperial Center with the Executor, Admiral Ledre Okins was given temporary command on the recommendation of Emperor Palpatine. Piett was briefly transferred back to the Accuser, from which he carried out the work of Vader's Death Squadron.[1] At some stage, Piett culled himself a personal adviser from the pilot corps: TIE Fighter ace Chiraneau.[27] Months after the Bespin incident, Piett was ordered to take an unpredictable route from system to system, in hope of finding the Alliance Fleet. Since the chance of success for that tactic was very low, the admiral suspected that Palpatine had something else in mind.[28]

Several months later, once again on the Executor, Piett was given command of the substantial Imperial fleet amassed at Endor to trap the Alliance and defend the Death Star II,[1] after ferrying Vader to the incomplete battlestation to oversee the final phases of construction.[23] Piett's nephew, former Rebel Sarkli, was also present[29] to serve alongside the garrison on the forest moon.[30] Operations and preparations at Endor, overseen in part by the Executor,[31] went smoothly until the shuttle Tydirium attempted to land on the forest moon. The ship was transmitting an older, though still legitimate, Imperial code, sowing seeds of suspicion in Piett's mind. Vader soon took notice of the issue and ordered Piett to allow the shuttle to land, assuring his admiral that he would personally deal with the occupants. The shuttle was eventually revealed to have been carrying an Alliance strike team, who had the intent of destroying the Death Star's shield generator on the forest moon. The shield generator was the battlestation's main line of defense, and its eradication would leave the Death Star vulnerable to attack.[3]

Palpatine, acting through Vader, sent the fleet to the far side of Endor, in order to hide it from the enemy fleet when they arrived. Shortly afterwards, the Alliance Fleet entered the Endor system, prompting Piett's armada to come out of hiding. Pitted against the renowned Mon Calamari Admiral Gial Ackbar, Piett's forces blocked the Alliance's escape vector, while his fighters were dispatched to engage their Alliance counterparts.[3] Piett was given direct orders from Palpatine to not directly attack and engage the Alliance craft, and so his fleet began to suffer from enemy General Lando Calrissian's tactic of having the Alliance capital ships engage the Star Destroyers at point-blank range.[1] Due to this, Piett's performance as a commander and a tactician was greatly hindered,[28] and the Death Star could no longer use its superlaser against the enemy craft, since they were now nestled up against the Imperial cruisers.[3]

Crynyd crashes into the bridge of the Executor, killing Piett and the rest of the ship's bridge crew.

When the Death Star's shield fell, many of the Alliance starfighters swept into the battlestation's superstructure, with a swarm of Imperial craft in pursuit. Ackbar ordered a concentrated assault on the Executor, and as a result, the Star Dreadnought lost its bridge deflector shield. Concerned, Piett ordered his crewmen to amplify the Executor's defensive fire, but it was too little, too late.[3] As Piett relayed this order, an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor piloted by Arvel Crynyd was struck by turbolaser fire and spun out of control. Crynd managed to regain what little control he had and went straight for the bridge. Gherant saw it coming and screamed that it was too late. Piett whipped around, saw the incoming fighter and dived for cover as the A-Wing rammed into the Executor's bridge, destroying it and killing Piett, Gherant, and the entire bridge crew. The foundering vessel, trapped in the Death Star's gravity well, plummeted into the battlestation in a gargantuan fireball. The Battle of Endor was eventually lost by the Empire, with Palpatine dying his first death at the hands of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, who also perished.[32]

Firmus Piett, in his admiralty, garnered himself a set of detractors who claimed that he only achieved the rank because Darth Vader had such a low tolerance for failure. This was not exactly true: Vader chose to crew his ships with the Empire's finest officers, regardless of their politics and background. Apart from Thrawn, Vader chose not to utilize Palpatine's Grand Admirals, since Piett displayed talent that rivaled them anyway.[1] He was, however, hindered in moments of great restraint, as displayed at the Battle of Endor. Unable to attack due to the Emperor's orders, Piett's fleet was eventually decimated by the Alliance craft.[31]

Despite what looked like a flawless service record, Piett actually made a multitude of mistakes and blunders throughout his career. What set him apart from his colleagues and allowed him to climb the chain of command was his ability to divert blame onto others.[6] Piett was also a far more creative individual than some of his more by-the-book colleagues,[7] and was adept at both political maneuvering and appeasing his superiors.[33] In addition to his political and military skills, Piett could understand Huttese and speak Basic.[34]

When Piett reached the rank of admiral, he realized that it was not quite the best of positions after all, as his mistakes would have more severe consequences. However, his knack for avoiding Vader's anger enabled him to keep the post longer than he otherwise might have.[6] He allowed himself a degree of confidence, and had faith in the Navy's ability to complete its task. To that end, he was derisive of third parties such as bounty hunters and mercenaries, believing that the Navy could do any job just as well.[21]

"You can't just play a uniform or a single attitude, you have to somehow try to dig up within the parameters of the part something human, because that's what the audiences respond to, the humanity. The response I got was because of the humanity, not because of the uniform, if you see what I mean."

Admiral Piett first appeared in the novelization of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, one month before the release of the film on which it was based. In the film, the character was portrayed by Kenneth Colley. Piett was not originally going to appear in Return of the Jedi, but fan mail supporting the return of the character convinced George Lucas to rehire Colley and write several new lines of dialogue for him. In playing the role, Colley chose not to play a single attitude, but instead attempted to evoke the humanity of Piett's character, something that the actor ultimately believed made audiences react so strongly.[35]

In the rough draft for Return of the Jedi, penned by Lawrence Kasdan, there are several differences regarding Piett's role in the film, in comparison to the shooting script. Instead of being stationed over Endor, the Imperial fleet is instead positioned over Had Abbadon. "Grand Moff" Jerjerrod arrives aboard Vader's command ship, and waits for Vader inside the Dark Lord's communications chamber. When Vader demands to know where Jerjerrod is, Piett directs him towards the chamber, where all surveillance devices have been disabled. Later, the Rebels are able to blow up a communications dish on Had Abbadon, and as alarms wail on the command ship, Piett informs Vader that all communications have been disabled. He also tells Vader that a large Rebel force is incoming. Vader directs Piett to take the fleet and defend the Death Stars under construction over the Green Moon. Vader also instructs Piett to send more troops down to the moon to reinforce the beleaguered General Veers, while the Dark Lord plans to take Luke Skywalker to see Emperor Palpatine. Piett's death remained largely the same for the finished film.[36]

↑The captain of the Star Destroyer featured in the reprint of Deadly Reunion is shown to be Piett, even though he is not identified in the text. The identification of the ship as the Accuser is drawn from the New Essential Guide to Characters, which claims that Piett was the captain of the craft during Deadly Reunion's time-frame.